A 16-year-old Indian girl who was reportedly gang-raped and set on fire by two men died in the hospital on Tuesday, according to AFP.
The girl was a Dalit, the lowest caste in the Hindu caste hierarchy, who experience disproportionately high rates of sexual assault in a society with high rates of crime against women.
Her killing on Monday occurred less than a week after two Dalit sisters, ages 15 and 17, were reportedly sexually abused and killed by six men and discovered hanging from a tree.
Both cases occurred in the impoverished northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to over 230 million people, where such atrocities are often reported in the media.
In the most recent incident, a girl from a remote location was reportedly assaulted and set on fire by two guys early this month.
She was taken to a hospital in the state capital of Lucknow, where she died on Monday from her injuries.
Local police chief Dinesh Kumar Prabhu told AFP, “We arrested the accused within two hours of the incident being reported and assured the family of proper follow-up action against the perpetrators.”
Since then, Prabhu added, police have been stationed near the girl’s residence “to check any untoward incident.”
In prior situations, families of low caste have been intimidated or harmed to prevent them from testifying.
Activists assert that police often fail to take marginalised communities’ claims seriously and that they lack access to legal counsel.
Last year, the rapid cremation of a Dalit rape victim slain by an upper-caste Hindu man in Uttar Pradesh before an examination sparked worldwide outcry.
According to official statistics, about 32 000 incidences of rape were registered in India in 2021, but it is believed that many more go unreported.